Goh Forth and Conquer
by Bellamy - Axolotl of the Light
Summary: [AU Real world. 'Pokemon Go'-inspired] Professor Willow issues a challenge to all young people. Are you brave enough to capture and tame mysterious magical creatures that could potentially harm you? Are you willing enough to climb the ranks as a "Pokemon Trainer"? Accept Professor Willow's request, journey forth, and pit your skills against thousands of others. OCs welcome, see CH3
1. The Call

**Edit: 14.08.2016: To anyone who happens to click on this story and gets past this chapter, I ask if you would please bare with any grammar mistakes and my awkward writing. I plan on going through and rehashing, correcting anything, and fleshing things out better when it's all done. Thank you ever so kindly.  
**

 _Hello, Young Adventurers,_

 _You may all have recently noticed the surge of mysterious monsters suddenly plaguing our planet. These creatures seem quite capable in hurting us if we get too close, as they come with an array of elemental-manipulating abilities. Instead of fearing these creatures, I have taken an interest in them and have resolved to study them as much as possible. But I am not alone. Several colleagues are helping in my endeavors._

 _Packaged with this letter, I present all of you young people a gift if you choose to accept the call of adventure. Inside, you will notice a collection of twenty small devices which I am referring to as "PokéBalls" as well as a QR code to download a feature onto your phones called the "Pokédex." Both of these you will quickly find of use shall you accept my challenge._

 _As dangerous as many of these creatures may appear, we have discovered that they are easily tamable and can be stored inside the previously mentioned Balls. This is why my colleagues and I have taken to calling them "Pocket Monsters," hence the terms "PokéBall" and "Pokédex."_

 _So, this brings me to my request. I am asking those among you that are brave enough to travel outside and search for these Pokémon, are you willing to become Trainers? The choice is up to you!_

 _Go forth, Pokémon Trainers!_

 _Sincerely,_

 _Professor Willow_

P.S. If you do choose to accept this invitation, please download the Pokédex app and register yourself as a Trainer. Thank you.

* * *

… …

…

"Hello. This is the Pokédex. You are a new user. Please tell me your name, so that I may register you as a Pokémon Trainer in Professor Willow's Database."

…

 **Goh Fujita**

"Is this correct?"

Yes

"Welcome, new Trainer! Professor Willow is glad that you have decided to accept his offer to help his research team study these Pokémon on a firsthand basis."


	2. The Beginning

It was early afternoon in central Ohio, halfway through July. The summer breeze felt nice against the brown-haired girl's face, especially as it was one of the nicer days of summer. What had become somewhat normal to see, she sat down at the picnic table in the middle of the park, hearing the sounds of children playing some distance away and small wild monsters scurrying through the grass and the air above her head.

She sat on the bench, placing an unopened package in front of her. She had yet to open it. A few days ago, when as far as she could tell everyone between the ages of ten and thirty had received the same letter in the mail from some guy named Willow, she had hesitated about what the letter had requested of her.

Finally, she just couldn't take it any longer. After quickly becoming accustomed to seeing other people that had accepted the letter go around catching the Pokémon that roamed as commonly as any normal animal, she wanted to see what the thrill was for herself.

The girl looked at the brown package, heaved a deep breath, and set the envelope down beside it as she reached to tear open the small box. She emptied the contents on the table, seeing the collection of twenty red-and-white ping pong-sized balls that the letter had identified as 'PokéBalls.' There was also a small folded piece of paper that came dropping out as well, so buried in the cluster of Balls that she almost mistook it for random trash.

The girl scooped the Balls to the side and reached for the piece of paper to examine it. Starting to unfold it, she was beginning to wonder if it was some sort of practical joke but finally spotted the QR code printed right in the center of the page. _That was for the Pokédex, right?_ She grabbed for her phone and scanned the QR code, taking only a few minutes for the app to open in the app store, and her to tap 'install.'

Now, there was a new app on the main screen of her phone. It was simply blue around the edges with a PokéBall taking up most of the center. She tapped it.

The girl was asked to 'register herself.' She typed her name. Camelia Farley. The Pokédex welcomed her and the screen faded to a simple list of five squares per row over a light purple background. Each box had a three-digit number, like '001,' '002,' 003,' and so on. She scrolled the screen. It was completely blank. She was confused.

She sat back, pondering what to do, gazing in a trance at the blank list. She considered she'd have to catch a Pokémon now for the list to change at all. Feeling a sudden burst of determination, she hoisted herself up from the bench, leaning her weight on her arms in front of her. She pocketed the PokéBalls into a brown messenger bag with a golden PokéBall clip, slung it over her shoulder, and left the rest on the table. She'd return soon, to dispose of her trash, she thought.

She looked around hesitantly. She watched a purple mouse scamper atop the ground near her, its tail sticking up higher than the grass. A little brown bird flew in the opposite direction. The girl sighed. She had felt a rush of determination before, but now it was quickly fading. How exactly was she supposed to catch one of these little critters?

She began walking slowly, keeping an eye out for one of the monsters if they happened to come too close. She wasn't exactly protected, and even if she didn't think a tiny little bird or mouse could do much, she had heard from the news of some of them being capable of controlling electricity. Safe to say, she wasn't exactly in the mood to get electrocuted right at the moment.

"Ahhh," She suddenly felt her legs tangle up beneath her and the next thing she knew, she was getting a face full of dirt. She groaned, her voice muffled by the ground.

The girl pulled herself back to her knees, feeling a slight sting in both knees from where they had crashed to the ground. She mumbled unhappily at her own clumsiness, thinking she had just tripped on her own feet, but as she readjusted her bag and turned her body halfway around, she saw the motionless body of a tall boy lying on the ground. She yelped and scuddled backward in a haste, tripping a few times on her hands.

Her first thought after seeing him was that he was either dead or that she had run into him somehow without looking. On closer inspection, though, she watched as his chest rose and fell with steady breaths. His eyes were closed.

Camelia stood up and slowly moved closer to examine him, half curiously. He had one of his arms draped over his face, while the other rested on his stomach, beneath a small brownish-yellow caterpillar with a big pink nose and a sharp horn on its head. A small shiny circular badge, again shaped liked a PokéBall, was pinned to his shirt. It was bright yellow in color, accented with a thin border of gold. Camelia blinked, half nervously now, at having noticed the bug. A quick shiver danced up her spine.

"Hey, excuse me," she squeezed her eyes shut and tapped her foot lightly against the tall boy's leg. She tried again, slowly, opening one eye and then both again. "Excuse me!" She grew impatient, yelling now, outright kicking him in the shin by accident.

The bug and the boy finally stirred, and the boy propped up on his elbows with a half-lazy, half-dreary expression. Camelia thought he seemed kind of irritated, but wasn't completely sure. He was giving off mixed signals. "What…?" He slowly looked up, realizing someone was staring down at him, as the bug simply crawled down and curled back up in the shade of his back. "…do you want?"

Camelia furrowed her brow in frustration, balling one of her hands into a fist. She wanted to punch the taller boy. "You and your bug were sleeping in the middle of this field! I tripped over you!" She huffed.

The boy slowly stood up and dusted himself off. "Oh yeah, I guess we did fall asleep, huh?" He rambled to no one in particular.

"Hello?"

"Yoo-hoo?"

"Are you even listening to me?" The girl watched as the boy just twisted his body and stretched, before turning back to the little bug and zapping it back into a PokéBall that he swiftly removed from his pocket.

"Oh yeah," the boy finally addressed the girl at his side. "Who are you again?"

The girl folded her arms in a fake-pout. "My name is Camelia Farley."

"Oh, right," the boy's head nodded slowly as if he was responding casually to a familiar friend, not seeming to notice her agitation. He then noticed the phone in her hand, which finally sparked some sort of active response. "You're a Pokémon Trainer, Shorty?"

"Hm?" Camelia was confused for a second, taken aback by the sudden question. "Y-yeah." Her eye twitched. "Please don't call me 'Shorty.' My name's Camelia."

The boy bobbed is head again, indicating he at least heard her. "Hey, Shorty, you don't seem to have any Pokémon on you, though. Do you need help?"

Camelia was torn. She didn't exactly know how she was going to catch a Pokémon without having any of her own, but she didn't want to admit to this guy that she needed help. She shook her head vehemently. "N-n-no way!" She marched a few steps forward, trying to act cool and ignore the tall boy, her voice audibly shaking. "I can catch one perfectly fine, thank you, Mr. Cool Boy!"

The boy just stood aside, making no comment or action.

A bead of sweat tickled the back of Camelia's neck as her gaze shifted from left to right, nervously and confidently seeking out a Pokémon to try and catch. She didn't want to humiliate herself in front of this boy, and she didn't want his help either.

Just then, Camelia fell backward, landing hard on her bottom as something tall blurred past her. She was in a stupor as the tall boy tossed something expertly in the air as if he was throwing a baseball. Out of a beam of energy appeared the little bug that had been sleeping on his chest before, to the boy's cry of "Go, Spike!"

Camelia raced to her feet, wanting to know what the boy had moved so quickly for, as up until that point he had moved with noticeable jetlag. "What was that for?" Camelia chided him, grabbing his arm in frustration. "I'm trying to catch a Pokémon if you don't mind! Without you!"

The boy's much taller height made him seem rather immovable to her. She continued to tug at his arm as he ignored her. He lashed his hand forward, pointing to something ahead. "Spike, use Poison Sting now!"

The Weedle reared its head up, the horn crowning its head sucking up energy from seemingly thin air until it glows with a faint purple aura, and then it charged forward, head-first. Camelia stopped tugging on the boy's arm just long enough to finally notice something go sliding out of the grass. She blinked in half-awe.

There, in front of Weedle – er, 'Spike,' was a small green quadrupedal reptilian monster with a plant bulb on its back. It screeched, startled by the attack, and then glared at the worm. "No way! How did you find one!" Camelia gasped in exasperation, letting go of the boy's arm in full bewilderment. "You were half asleep a moment ago!"

The boy whipped out his phone, aiming the camera at the wild Pokémon, as his Pokédex came up with a fully-detailed page of info on it. This was all while the boy himself was looking at the creature standing in front of his Pokémon.

The Bulbasaur scraped the dirt with a foreleg and charged toward the bug. "Dodge it, now!"

Spike, with astonishing skill for something of its stature, confidently twirled around, balancing on its horn like a top, and whipping out of the Bulbasaur's path just in time. "Poison Sting again!"

Before the Bulbasaur could have barely realized that it had missed, the Weedle had jabbed its horn into the back of the plant bulb. The Grass-type growled in pain.

The boy took a split-second glimpse at the screen of his phone. "Watch out for its Vine Whip, Spike!" He commanded confidently.

The Weedle landed on the ground, made to brace itself, but was caught off-guard by the vines sprouting from underneath Bulbasaur's bulb. Spike squirmed and squealed in desperation.

The boy gritted his teeth, but his frustration was quickly brought under control by another calm command. "Use String Shot, now, Spike! Shoot it upward!"

Through Spike's squirming, the little bug managed to hear its Trainer's orders and stopped its struggling. It blasted a mouthful of sticky goo straight above its head. The silky string, on its decent, began to unravel and fall in clumps and splotches all around where Bulbasaur stood. Some of the string fell onto Bulbasaur, attaching like glue onto the Grass Pokémon's back and head.

It was taken by surprise and dropped Spike from its vines unceremoniously, and tried to dash away back into the taller grass, but all of the clumps of unraveled string caught onto its feet and made its movements slower with each layer it ran through.

"Finish it, now! Poison Sting!"

Spike again reared up, and charged with its horn first. It jabbed into Bulbasaur's side and caused the plant Pokémon to lose its footing and go rolling in the dirt a little ways.

Camelia blinked. She was too speechless for thought. She couldn't describe in words how amazing that battle had seemed, right in front of her.

Something jabbed her in the side. "Ow!"

"Hey, Shorty!" The tall boy broke her out of her thoughts, the first time she had ever heard annoyance from him. "Don't just stand there gawking like an idiot! Throw a PokéBall at it!"

Camelia looked at him stupidly for a second and then hastily fidgeted for one of the PokéBalls in her bag. "Oh, right! Here goes! PokéBall!" She swung her arm as hard as she could.

…

…

A burst of snickering came from behind her. She lifted her head. "Hey, Shorty! Where exactly are you trying to aim? You aren't catching the moon!" The boy taunted behind her, clutching his sides with both arms, Spike having somehow already returned to him and perched on his shoulder, having a similar reaction as its Trainer.

Camelia blushed in frustration. "I-I know that! I was just warming up!" She turned back around and threw another PokéBall. This time it pounced off of the weary Bulbasaur's head and absorbed it within a beam of energy successfully. The Ball snapped shut and landed on the ground, and immediately began to knock back and forth, a red light blinking on the button.

One.

Two.

Three.

The light on the button faded, and the Ball stilled.

Slowly, Camelia's mouth curled up into a smile as she raced over to pick up her first Pokémon excitedly. She scooped the PokéBall up with both hands and rubbed her face against it affectionately. "Nice to meet you, Bulbasaur! You're my Pokémon now!"

An awkward moment of silence as the happy girl quieted passed, and then she heard a pointed cough from behind her. Her eye twitched sheepishly. "I do believe you owe me something?" The boy called over to her.

She turned, lowering the PokéBall from her face a bit. Her smile flattened. She looked away for a moment and then back to him. "Thank you," she squeaked out, barely audibly.

The boy walked up. "What was that? I couldn't quite catch that, Shorty?" He leaned down a bit, mockingly, cupping an ear with his hand.

The girl looked at him, then turned away. "I said, thank you," she repeated herself, again hardly audibly.

"What?" The boy taunted again. "You really have to speak up, Shorty?" This time, his mouth curled up into a snide smile, as if he had heard but was pretending he had not.

Camelia took a deep breath. "I said, thank you very much!" She burst out into his ear as loud as she possibly could. She was getting tired of this guy. "I never said I needed help, though."

The boy stood straight, a finger in his ear, looking almost hurt. One last chuckle slipped from his lips, but otherwise, he looked mostly emotionless.

A pause.

Camelia then turned back to him, in all seriousness. "Hey, wait, you never even told me who you were!"

The boy yawned casually, recalling Spike from where it was on his shoulder. "I didn't?" He looked at her through one eye.

Camelia shook her head. "No, you didn't."

He shrugged lazily, looking away. "Hmmm, I could have sworn I already have?"

"Well, you haven't, okay?"

"Ha, sorry about that, Shorty," the boy then pointed to the badge pinned to his shirt. "My name's Goh Fujita. Of Team Yellow."

Camelia's eye twitched. "Stop calling me 'Shorty'!" and preceded to chase him around the grassy lawn of the park.


	3. Stop and Shop

**Note: Bulbasaur's evolutionary line will be considered pure Grass-types in this story, because I've never really understood why they are dual types.**

Camelia was breathing heavily, bent over with her hands resting on her knees. After a few moments to catch her breath, she gritted her teeth together and glared at the boy standing across from her on the tennis court. Why was she even back at the park again? She could hardly call Goh her "friend" – especially since he keeps using 'Shorty' instead of her actual name.

She stood straighter. "What are we even doing this for? I feel ridiculous!" She called to the boy from where she was, knowing if she stepped any closer he would just hound her about moving from her position and tell her to go back. "I've been doing this for a couple of hours. My arm's going numb!"

Goh made hardly any indication that he was listening to her. He remained in the same position, his expression some kind of in between lazy and serious, his arms crossed. Spike sat around his Trainer's neck, observing quietly the whole scenario. He would occasionally snicker a bit along with his Trainer for reasons Camelia could only guess they were just making fun of her.

The black-haired boy shifted his footing slightly and then looked back at her. "This is for your own good, Shorty. Face it, the way you throw you'll end up wasting more than your supply of PokéBalls every time you want to catch a Pokémon. Now, get ready again, and try to throw the tennis ball so it at least lands on the 'x'."

Camelia _tsked_ bitterly under her breath. After another moment, she reluctantly picked up another tennis ball from the small bin beside her. "Sadist," she muttered to herself, and then shouted again, "I can't even see an x from where I'm standing!" But nonetheless chucked her arm forward again and sent the tennis ball flying in Goh's direction.

The ball landed, bounced a few times, and rolled. Camelia hung her arm as her eyes followed the ball. Goh pointed to the ground near him. "You're way off again, Shorty! Your aim is terrible!"

"Well, you're a terrible coach!" Camelia retorted.

Goh ignored her mostly. "Try it again."

Camelia heaved a sigh as she picked up another ball from the bin. She stared at the fuzzy green sphere in her hand, feeling drained of energy from whatever she was supposed to be learning from this. She could hardly remember at this point. _I'd like to show him who's a better Trainer_ , she thought wearily, wanting to one-up the boy at least once to shut him up. _I wonder if I can hit him right in the face this time…_ she quietly chuckled to herself, half self-deprecatingly, knowing that her chances were slim of even landing the ball near him.

She took a deep breath to relax her nerves a little, squeezed her eyes shut, and flung the ball as hard as she could. She hoped she could hit the stupid x this time.

…

 _Whack!_

…

"Huh?"

"…Eh?"

"What!?" Camelia shrieked as soon as she opened her eyes. Across the court, Goh was lying flat on the ground, arms outstretched, Spike having been tossed a short distance from him. "Goh, are you alright?" She ran as fast as she could before her mind could process anything clearly.

The girl looked ragged by the time she reached Goh and Spike and stood over the boy's body to examine him. Déjà vu. "Goh?" She breathed, practically sounding worried or even scared.

There was a red imprint planted smack in the middle of Goh's face. The boy opened his eyes slowly, his usually pretty easygoing gaze now clouded with a feeling of discomfort as he cringed from the pain. He rested himself on his elbows to catch his breath. Camelia fell to her knees beside him, looking honestly guilty. "I'm so sorry, Goh. I didn't mean to…"

Goh covered his nose with a hand, still cringing a bit. "Maybe we should stop for the day…" He half-heartedly suggested, his gaze distant. "…Spike?"

Upon hearing his name, the little Weedle came crawling up to his Trainer. He too had a rather dejected look to him. Goh rubbed a hand over the little worm's head with a genuine smile. Camelia legitimately felt bad about pelting a ball in his face, even if she thought he was increasingly annoying a lot, but she couldn't deny that there was a noticeably strong bond between the boy and his Pokémon.

Camelia took out Bulbasaur's PokéBall quietly. She started to wonder if she and the plant Pokémon could ever have such a strong attachment to each other. In a way, it started to make her jealous of Goh for a completely different reason.

The brown-haired girl stood up quietly and walked a little distance away, trying not to alert Goh that she was going anywhere. Sure, she was worried about what she had did to him, but she wanted to take a moment with her own Pokémon. After all, ever since she had caught it the previous day, she never really brought it out yet to officially introduce herself.

Once she got not too far away, but enough where she felt Goh wouldn't be able to interrupt her, she took one last glance at his position, and kneeled on the round again. She released her Bulbasaur from its PokéBall, the little Grass Pokémon coming out and staring curiously up at her.

"Hello there, Bulbasaur," Camelia greeted the Pokémon with a positive smile, reaching her hand out to pet its head. The Bulbasaur cautiously accepted the gesture. "Sorry I haven't really said hi until now, but I just wanted to ask you," – she glanced once more in Goh's direction, Bulbasaur noticing, confused, but the boy had disappeared. "Would you be willing to be friends with me?"

The Grass Pokémon tilted its head, not quite understanding what she was trying to say.

"I'm mean, I know I am your Trainer, but I don't really know what I should be doing. So, can you forgive me?" The girl awkwardly smiled.

After a moment, Bulbasaur nestled its head into her hand again and smiled reassuringly.

"Your Bulbasaur seems like a very dependable Pokémon," Goh's unexpected comment from behind made Camelia jump and twist her body to see him.

"I'm sorry for walking away like that –" Camelia started, but was cut off as the boy shrugged her words off and kneeled to let Bulbasaur sniff his hand.

"No. I probably partly deserved that," he sighed evenly, smiling at the Grass-type. He finally lifted his gaze from the Bulbasaur and returned the girl's eye contact. He stood up. "If you want to be a good Trainer, it would probably be better to try everything out rather than having me nitpick about how you do something, right?"

Taken aback by the boy's sudden change of heart, Camelia nodded slowly, letting his words sink in. After a moment, she turned back to Bulbasaur shyly, not really sure what to say with Goh watching and listening. She couldn't describe the feeling inside her.

"If you want to give Bulbasaur a name, all you have to do is tell it. There's nothing formal you have to do," the boy continued calmly, startling Camelia by making her think he was a mind reader or psychic or something. She wasn't going to say that, though.

"O-oh, o-o-okay," she found herself stumbling over her words. "How about… _Basarao_?" She asked the Grass type in front of her, waiting for confirmation.

Bulbasaur seemed excited about the new name. It smiled happily and jumped for joy. Spike crawled down to greet it as well.

"That's a unique name," Goh commented.

Camelia stood up, scooping her Pokémon up into her arms, and turned to face him with a newfound confidence. "It just kind of came to me. We'll have an even stronger bond than you and Spike!" She challenged him.

Goh's expression seemed to falter for a split second, but was gone in the blink of an eye. Camelia couldn't describe what she thought she saw, but from what she knew of him so far, she thought it felt very un-Goh-like. "I'm not sure about that," was all he said.

* * *

The two Trainers walked side-by-side, a much friendlier atmosphere between them than earlier. Bulbasaur and Weedle were in their Trainer's arms and around his Trainer's neck, respectively.

"So, where are we going now?" Camelia turned to look at the boy beside her. They were headed in the direction of the edge of the park.

Goh didn't respond, not immediately, until they stopped in front of a small blue and white building with a large blue PokéBall-shaped sign out front. The letters above the door read "PokéStop." Camelia guessed it was for some sort of dramatic flair as Goh pointed to the shop's logo. "This would be a PokéStop. One of the basic essentials for every Trainer to explore."

They walked in, Goh half-jokingly, half-seriously holding the door open for Camelia with a, "Ladies first, Shorty."

Camelia almost growled at him in annoyance for again referring to her as "Shorty" but quickly weighed his actions over his words and decided against it. This once. She walked and gasped in awe.

It was a small and simple shop, but the place was packed and organized with all kinds of things a Trainer would probably ever think to need, some that Camelia swore she never would have thought about.

"You'll find all kinds of things here," Goh said as he walked ahead of her, going first up to the counter but out of the way of anyone trying to pay at the register. "For, however, the most important thing is the Trainer wheel."

"What's that?" The girl stopped in front of him, trying her hardest not to get distracted by anything on the shelves.

"It's a daily raffle for Trainers, kind of like a lottery but you get something every time you spin it, whether it's free PokéBalls, a batch of Potions, or – in the case of Team Yellow's primary belief – an Egg," Goh explained as he spun the wheel to show her how it worked.

It looked like a much small version of the Wheel-of-Fortune wheel with the color scheme being primarily blue and white to match the shop. When it came to a stop, the device clicked, and like a slot machine, something popped out underneath. Goh happened to get five PokéBalls.

"Oh, wow!" Camelia jumped excitedly, wanting to try her luck. Bulbasaur shared much of her enthusiasm, but more out of awe for how it worked than the joy of getting something from it. "Let me try now," she said as Goh stepped out of the way as he pocketed his prize.

She spun the wheel. Camelia felt like she was standing on pins and needles in anticipation of what she may get. She bounced on her heels.

Finally, the wheel stopped and something slid out of the bottom. It was a small piece of paper. At first, she didn't know what to think, but Goh's expression flashed with a hint of sadness. She picked up the ticket and examined it. It had a blue circle in the center of it, with the image of a pale and green-spotted egg, and the number 2 beneath it. "What do I do with this?" She showed the paper to Goh, her confusion obvious on her face.

"Since an Egg can't exactly come out of a machine, that's what you get," he pointed to the person behind the counter. "If you happen to get that, you have to go to the counter and exchange it with the clerk. They'll know what it means. And you'll get yourself a Pokémon Egg."

The two of them entered the line, with three people ahead of them. As they waited, Camelia turned to the boy with a thought. "Speaking of Eggs, I haven't seen you with anything but Spike. Don't you have other Pokémon, Goh? You mentioned something about Team Yellow's belief?" Her focus briefly shifted to the shiny yellow badge pinned to his shirt again.

Goh smiled. "Team Yellow – also known as Instinct, believes that there is a significant difference in how a Pokémon grows by hatching them. I strictly follow that belief…"

"So, does that mean you hatched Spike from an Egg?" Camelia grew more interested in the little bug, her curiosity rising.

Goh nodded. "That's right. I have not and am not planning to catch a Pokémon from the wild." Camelia and Bulbasaur shared a glance with each other at his words.

"So, when you found Basarao yesterday…?" Camelia started, half wondering to herself.

"I never had any intention of catching it myself, and when we train, Spike and I usually do so on our own rather than against wild Pokémon," Goh finished her thought.

Camelia nodded. "I understand now."

When they finally reached the counter, the clerk greeted them kindly. Camelia showed him the slip of paper that she had won, and the clerk took it and disappeared into a back room. He wasn't gone but for a moment and when he returned, he handed the girl a large egg that matched the image on the slip of paper, only this egg was encased in a portable incubator. "Here you go, please have a nice day!" The clerk said cheerily. "As you seem like a new Trainer, your first egg comes with a portable incubator. You will use this for any other eggs you may get in the future as well."

Camelia accepted the Egg happily, and thanked the clerk.

* * *

Goh and Camelia sat on a bench near the PokéStop. Despite being extremely excited about having obtained her first Pokémon Egg, she felt conflicted. She sat in silence, hugging the incubated egg close to her. Bulbasaur watched from beside her.

After a few slow moments, Camelia finally spoke up, alerting Goh who had been feeding Spike a handful of berries. Without a word, trying to hide her face, she passed the egg to Goh. The boy looked understandably confused. "What are you doing?" was all he could really say.

Camelia looked up, taking a deep breath. "You can have it, Goh. In exchange for helping me catch Basarao the other day. It seems like the perfect way to thank you, especially what you've told me about Team Yellow."

Goh cradled the egg gently. He listened quietly.

"Besides," Camelia sheepishly laughed as she gazed at her Bulbasaur. "I don't think I'm quite ready to have a second Pokémon just yet." She looked back to Goh, "I want to try to work with Basarao a little more first."

Goh smiled pleasantly. "Thanks… Camelia, that means a lot."

Camelia's eyes widened with surprise. The boy smirked.

"Don't let it go to your head. You still Shorty."

Camelia punched him half-playfully, mostly-seriously in the gut out of annoyance. The boy keeled over the egg.

 **Next chapter: Yellow VS Red**

 **Still hanging around the park, Camelia is introduced to the Red Team when Goh gets into a heated fight with some guy. It's the ultimate clash of truths and ideals! Or… just the start of a tension-filled rivalry that Camelia has found herself in the middle of.**

 **A/N: Also, one-time OCs are welcome. They may end up recurring depending on how much I like them. Only Generation 1 Pokémon, though, at least for now – as that's how Pokémon Go has started.**

 **OCs need at the very least:**

 **Name:**

 **Gender:**

 **Appearance:**

 **Personality:**

 **Team: (Instinct, Mystic, or Valor)**

 **Pokemon: (1 through 6, generation 1 only)**


	4. Yellow VS Red

"Basarao, use Tackle now!"

The Bulbasaur dashed forward. It raced towards the opposing Weedle with determination.

"Swing around and hit it with your horn, Spike!" Goh was not going soft on the rookie Trainer even if they had only had a few practice battles since she officially go started. He was raring to go, surprising Camelia by the outright animation of his movements. "Plain frontal attacks are easy to see coming, Shorty!"

Camelia barked back at the taller boy with frustration before focusing her attention back on the battle at hand, again being notably ruffled by the nickname 'Shorty.' However, before she could recite another command, her Bulbasaur skidded to a halt and screeched as Goh's Weedle spun around acrobatically on its head-horn and lashed out with the one on its tail.

The Grass Pokémon sunk to the ground, flinching and panting from a poisoning effect, a purplish bruise on its head where the Bug Pokémon had hit.

Camelia yelped, immediately calling off the battle and running forward to check up on her Pokémon. She kneeled in front of it. "Oh, Basarao, I'm so sorry!" She apologized, petting the Pokémon's head, avoiding touching the painful bruise. "These battles are hard. If I was a better Trainer, I'd probably be showing signs of improvement by now…" She trailed off, beginning to feel the sting of tears in the corners of her eyes.

"What are you getting so worked up for?" Goh's voice came from behind her, sounding a tinge exasperated but otherwise had that honest, warm, and lazy feeling as usual. The girl jumped a bit, not wanting the boy to see her crying and quickly wiped her face with her arm and turned her head. The boy was standing casually, one hand in the pocket of his pants while the other reached into his bag to pull out and hand her a yellow-and-white spray bottle. "It's Antidote. For the poison."

"Thank you."

Camelia received the bottle and pointed the nozzle o the wound. Bulbasaur flinched slightly from the medicine but stood up and looked happy about feeling better. Weedle crawled up to it, squealing softly, seeming to apologize about playing a little roughly. That was how Camelia interpreted the exchange as there seemed to be no harsh feelings amongst the two Pokémon.

The girl smiled at the friendly Pokémon. "Spike seems like a good older brother," she sighed slowly.

Goh looked at her, suddenly leaning closer, eyeing the girl suspiciously. "Are you implying you weren't expecting me and my Pokémon to know when to let up? That's harsh, Shorty." His voice seemed mostly sarcastic, as he emphasized his words with his arms.

Camelia backed away slightly, feeling cynical about being called 'Shorty' again. "I'm the same age as you, you know? You could at least use my name." She heaved a sigh. "I just thought that you and Spike seemed kind of detached from everything around you. You guys seem to take everything at your own pace, is all." Her eyes widened from the explosive intrusion of a random thought, and she looked at him from a side view. "Maybe I should call you 'Scruffy'," she muttered to herself dryly, seeming to realize just how impeccably messy his long black hair was, flopping in all directions on the top of his head and hanging over each shoulder so that it reaches more than halfway down his chest.

Goh didn't seem to hear her.

"I can be pretty observant," the boy shrugged nonchalantly. He turned back to her. "Every Trainer has to start somewhere, though. You shouldn't beat yourself up over something you haven't quite gotten used to. You've only touched the tip of the iceberg to training Pokémon. Shall we battle again?" He seemed to rock on his heels in anticipation, pumping himself up again at the mere thought of a Pokémon battle.

Camelia shook her head. She pushed herself to her feet, still watching the Weedle and the Bulbasaur frolic in the grass, before peeling her gaze to Goh.

"I'm not sure. I don't want to put Basarao through too much too fast…" Her words drifted off awkwardly as she caught something out of the corner of her eye and turned.

Goh seemed less than concerned or enthralled for whatever caught her attention, but followed her gaze as her sentence unraveled into silence. "What is it?"

"Can you help us catch a Pokémon?" She suddenly blurted out hastily. "Or, at least watch? I think I found the perfect opportunity to try something out by myself." Her voice struggled to sound confident in herself as she turned away from Goh, simultaneously taking out an empty PokéBall from her bag.

The boy was quiet for a moment. He stared where she was pointing, narrowed his eyes, but finally relented after a couple of long moments before turning away with a heavy breath, "Whatever, Shorty."

"Basarao, get ready! We're gonna catch a Pokémon!" She managed to pull off a shaky but believable bravado.

The Bulbasaur broke off its game with Weedle and went running to its Trainer's side. It seemed curious as to what she seemed excited about.

"Start with Tackle!"

Camelia pointed with her free hand into a thick cluster of bushes, trees, and branches. The young Grass Pokémon complied readily, pushing off the ground with its hind legs.

Behind her, Goh took out his phone/dex. The image of a Pokémon appeared on the screen. "So it is a Pokémon," he commented mostly to himself as Weedle crawled onto his shoulder, out of earshot of Camelia, sounding the faintest bit amused. He mouth couldn't help but form into a smirk as he shared a glance with Weedle and shrugged.

Basarao dove into the foliage, unfazed by the tickle of the leaves and scratch of the branches. Camelia ran forward a bit to try and get a glimpse of her Pokémon once more, barely making out its small silhouette amongst the camouflage. "Use Vine Whip!" Her eyes darted frantically, trying to remain calm. "I think it's above you!"

The girl couldn't see anything. She heard something lash out, assuming it to be Bulbasaur's vine-arms, hit something and then could only watch as said something came dashing out in a small creamy-white blur at her in its surprise.

It was a feline Pokémon with large eyes and a coin on its head, its body accentuated with light brown splotches here and there.

The Pokémon landed on the ground on its forepaws, as if it had leapt down from the branches of a tree, hissed, and then stood up on its hind legs. Its curled tail swayed back and forth slowly, emphasizing its annoyance.

Bulbasaur came dashing back out of the foliage after it, its vines having retreated, bound and determined to tackle the cat.

Camelia was taken aback at the sight of the cat's color. "That doesn't seem like what I saw… I thought it was red," she gasped lightly but quickly shook the feeling away.

"It's called Meowth," Goh broke in at that moment, phone in hand, coming up next to Camelia.

The girl noticed him, nodded with a 'thank you,' and turned back to her Pokémon. "Tackle it, Basarao!" Camelia commanded confidently, feeling excitement wash away the slight confusion she had. "Don't let it get away!"

The Bulbasaur nodded eagerly. It raced across the ground, creating a small dust trail in its wake, and then leapt at the cat Pokémon.

To Camelia's shock and surprise, Meowth ducked away and swung around on one leg, expertly kicking Bulbasaur square in the face. The plant Pokémon flew through the air and landed in the dirt with a _thud_. Camelia called to it worriedly, torn between running to her Pokémon's aid and continuing the battle. "Can't you keep going?"

The Meowth watched quietly.

After a few seconds, Bulbasaur stood and shook off the dirt. It gave a determined cry. Camelia smiled with relief, a hand held to her chest. "That's good. Can you try and catch it with Vine Whip?"

Bulbasaur's vine-arms shot out from under the sides of its bulb at pretty much rapid-fire as its feet braced itself. Meowth unsheathed its claws, and leaving a glowing afterimage of sorts because of its swiftness, its claws swatted the vines away. The left vine would approach, the cat swiped at it with a paw; the right vine approached, it would spin around balanced on one leg and kick the other one away.

This continued you repetitively with Meowth's actions in no set order.

Camelia gritted her teeth as she noticed her Bulbasaur growing weary. "Is it supposed to be this strong?" She spoke, partly thinking it was just inner turmoil, partly directed to Goh for any words of advice.

"It doesn't seem wild, does it?" Goh asked her, pointedly.

"What do you mean?" The girl was stumped.

Just then, the Meowth bounced back out of reach of the vines, landed firmly on its feet, and then the coin on its head began to glow with a golden aura. The energy condensed around the coin, and the cat jumped and threw its arms in front of it, shooting small marble-sized projectiles raining down on the Bulbasaur.

Right as the Grass Pokémon started to get assaulted with the barrage, Goh ran out in front of Camelia and threw his arm forward. "Spike, catch it with String Shot!"

In the midst of the barrage, everything suddenly stopped as Weedle hopped off of its Trainer's shoulder and shot a thick sticky thread at feline Normal-type from its mouth. Meowth was taken by surprise by the sudden goo and landed on the ground following Weedle, still holding it captive from the other end.

…

"Hey! Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!" A rapid-speaking voice came from the trees behind the Meowth. "What's the big idea, attacking someone else's Pokémon like that out of the blue?"

Camelia looked completely flabbergasted. Goh stared ahead, partly as if he already knew at least half of what was going on, no making any move to command his Pokémon to release the Meowth.

Someone suddenly dropped into view, upside down, staring at the two Trainers. His legs were wrapped around a thick, sturdy branch to keep him from falling.

Taking only a moment to grasp the whole event situated between the Trainers, the red-haired boy looked pointedly at Goh. "Hello? You there! Command your Weedle to let go of my Purrdy!"

Goh made no move, nor did he utter a sound.

After a second, partly for her mind to wrap around what was going on, Camelia spoke up almost timidly to the boy beside her. "Goh, I think you can let it go, right? What's wrong? Spike, –" She tried to command the Weedle herself.

But Goh's arm quickly went up, as if blocking her from interfering. "Don't give my Pokémon orders, Shorty." He almost seemed to be glaring at the other boy now, to what Camelia could see was a much more oblivious or optimistic persona given my opposing Trainer.

After a moment of the two boys just staring at each other, the other boy reached upward to grab the branch he was hanging on and swept himself over nimbly, landing on the ground perfectly with the grace of a cat and stood back up to examine the two Trainers from a normal perspective.

Now that he was standing regularly, Camelia noticed a set of red fox ears perched on the boy's head. A long tail draped from a belt behind him. "Red…" She muttered to herself, in realization.

Goh finally spoke up. "And how do we know you're someone we can trust not to just attack us at full force when we turn our backs? You seemed to take your time making your presence known, when you could easily see that the girl's a new Trainer who wouldn't know the difference between a trained and wild Pokémon – "

"Hey!" Camelia turned to Goh quickly, immediately knowing that he was meaning her. "You don't have to say it like that, Goh! I'm right here, you know!"

She was pretty much ignored. Camelia sighed, about ready to just give up.

The red headed, pretty boy scratched his cheek lazily. "I'm pretty sure you're the ones that attacked us first…" He turned back in their direction after something seemed to dawn on him. "Wait – Are _you_ possibly…? That Goh kid?"

Goh didn't respond.

The boy went on, clapping his hands together. "Yeah! Yeah! The Yellow guy that gets into a lot of fights with the Red Team, right?"

* * *

Bulbasaur and Weedle were playing around again. Meowth sat a few feet away, keeping its distance, as it was still trying to pick all of the silk-goo out of its fur. When Weedle tried to approach it with a 'let bygones be bygones' kind of apology, Meowth just turned away and huffed, obviously having a bit of a grudge.

The three Trainers sat at a picnic table, or Camelia and the fox-eared guy did while Goh sat on the top, beside Camelia, clutching his bag with the egg in it. He had sunk into a pout of sorts after Camelia had invited the other boy to come and sit with them. Goh refused to look across the table.

"So, what's the Red Team?" Camelia started up, noticing he had a similar badge pinned to his shirt as Goh's yellow one. Of course, it was red in color. "You mentioned it before."

Goh flicked his head away, hugging his egg tighter.

"Oh, so he was right! You really are that new? You don't even know about all of the Teams yet?" The red-headed boy's fox ears seemed to perk up of their own accord. Maybe it was just the wind.

Camelia couldn't help but feel slightly offended. Now this guy was really starting to push her buttons about the whole "new trainer" thing. The back of her neck prickled.

"Trainers belong to one of three teams, each having a specific view about the best way of raising Pokémon: Team Valor ~me~, Team Instinct ~the grumpy one beside you~, and Team Mystic. Alternatively, they're also just called the Red Team, Yellow Team, and Blue Team."

Camelia glanced at Goh. From what she knew of him, he never seemed like the type of guy to get so angry at anyone or anything for no particular. He seemed mostly laidback. But, maybe it was just team rivalry that made him so aggravated before.

"So, Goh gets into fights with the other teams often?" Camelia turned back to the fox-eared boy, asking innocently.

Goh _tsked_ , clearly irked, from beside her.

"From what I've heard, it's mostly just with the Red Team…"

Startling everybody, Goh suddenly slammed his hands down onto the table loudly. "Yeah, and it's something some random Red Team wannabe doesn't need to know the details of!" The two boys exchanged glares, the tension now seeming to even extend to their Pokémon, as both Weedle and Meowth face each other in preparation for a fight.

Camelia was starting to sweat nervously. She leaned away from Goh.

"Why are you so mad at _me_?" The red head barked. "Just because me team is Red, doesn't mean I ever did anything to you!"

Camelia sighed heavily, scooping up Bulbasaur into her arms. "Now they're both at it…"

Bulbasaur nodded in agreement, matter-of-factly. The Grass Pokémon used its vines to rescue the egg in Goh's clutches as the two boys started to wrestle with each other.

Just then, when Meowth and Weedle jumped to attack each other, the cat Pokémon unsheathing its claws for a Scratch and landed on Goh's face and Weedle dousing the fox-boy in a layer of silk-goo, was when Camelia had decided had had enough of the bickering.

"Guys! Stop it!" She managed to cut in between the two fighting teens just enough to momentarily put their attention on her. "You're both Trainers, right?" She looked to the red head, and then to Goh, trying to hold the latter's eye contact for substantially longer. "You should settle your feelings with a battle if you feel so strongly!"

The boys looked back up at each other, still unwavering tension but tempered just a bit.

"Fine," both boys decided at once, nodding.

Camelia looked between them again. "And whoever wins, no hard feelings, right?"

No comment.

"…right?" She pressured them, trying again.

Still no comment on the matter.

* * *

Both of the boys stood several feet apart from each other with their respective Pokémon with them, while Camelia stood off to the side with her Bulbasaur at her feet and her and Goh's bags behind her. She raised her arm, at least half excitedly. This was the first time she'd ever be refereeing a Pokémon battle.

"Okay! This will be a one-on-one battle between the challengers, Goh Fujita and… err…" She lowered her arm a bit. She couldn't believe they had never asked for the guy's name. "Uh, sorry, what was your name?"

"Bellamy. Bellamy Beltz."

She raised her arm again. "…and Bellamy Beltz! The battle will be over when either side will be unable to continue! Got it?" Finally, the boys reluctantly agreed with her. "Good. Let the battle begin!"

She waved her arm down as if she was holding a flag.

"Spike, let's show this Red Team scum how strong we really are!" Goh directed his arm forward, and Weedle leaped in front of him, just as ready as his Trainer.

"Hey, that's harsh! Okay, Purrdy, show that Yellow Team jerk over there that you're the strongest of your kind!" Bellamy retaliated, signaling his cat Pokémon the go-ahead to start.

Both the Bug- and the Normal-type landed between their Trainers, glaring at each other with a look that meant serious business.

"You watch, okay? As reckless as they are, they are both way more experienced than us as is," Camelia smiled down to her Bulbasaur. "Maybe we can learn a little about how both of them fights."

Bulbasaur nodded.

"I hope you're not a sore loser because we'll start first! Purrdy, start nice and simple! Scratch, go!" Bellamy commanded hastily.

The Meowth dashed forward, holding its arms out wide like an airplane, while unsheathing its claws.

Goh growled. "Don't think that the Red Team can go easy on me just because my Pokémon is a tiny bug! Instinct takes pride in a Pokémon's inner power! Weedle, show those two how you dodge with String Shot!"

Just as the feline began to get close, Weedle spit its silk straight at the ground beneath it, launching itself higher into the in an arc over the Meowth. The cat stopped in its tracks, its claws faded, as it watched he bug soar.

"The Red Team respects that not all Pokémon are fit for battle! Only those that that have a fiery passion for power should be the one's battling!" Bellamy defended. "Now, while it can't maneuver in the air, Purrdy! Shoot it down with Pay Day!"

Meowth purred in satisfaction to its Trainer's orders. The coin on its head began to glow golden, it bounced back, and then shot a barrage of marble-sized pellets at the little worm. Weedle was ricocheted back and forth between the bullets, being held captive in the air.

"Think of that as payback for the earlier String Shot," Bellamy joked coolly.

Goh clenched his fists. "You can get through it, Spike! Use String Shot as a cocoon!"

Still being batted around, Weedle opened its eyes with the determination from its new orders. It manages to spin its body around, spitting its silk again to follow it. The threads twirling with the Weedle's own body ends up encasing it in a protective sphere of adhesive. It still got hit, but the majority of the barrage ended up bouncing off or through the threads.

Weedle landed finally, shreds of thread and clumps of goo falling all around it.

Camelia noticed some of the pellets had landed near her. She noticed them reflecting off the dirt by the sun's light. The girl kneeled and picked one up. It was penny. Curious now, she looked around the field they were battling in. All around Weedle, what had to have been dozens of pennies had landed on the ground.

"Did these come from Purrdy's attack?" Camelia stood back up, interrupting the momentum of the battle, holding up the coin in her hand.

Bellamy turned to her. "Uh… yeah. You can keep it if you want. They are legitimate coins. Each time Purrdy uses it, it's randomized between 2 and 5 dollars of pennies."

Camelia's eyes widened. "Really? Meowth can actually create real money?!"

Bellamy smiled awkwardly to her. "Only of pennies. I've heard, depending where Meowth is raised, the coins are different depending upon the lowest currency of the country."

"That's so cool," the girl's eyes seem to sparkle with interest as big as the Meowth's own coin on its head.

Meowth turned to the girl with a smile, feeling proud to be complimented.

"Shorty!" Goh interrupted the girl's amusement with an irritated cough. "We're in the middle of a battle!"

"Oh… right," Camelia said slowly, nervously laughing off her naivety.

"We don't need to use flashy attacks to get things done! Right, Spike?" – The bug nodded in agreement – "Use, Poison Sting!"

For its small stature, Weedle moved quickly across the ground, its horn sucking up enough poisonous energy from out of thin air to make it glow purple.

"Purrdy, watch out for that horn! It could really cause us some trouble! Jump above it and hit it with Pay Day once more!"

Meowth obliged and waited for the right moment. When Weedle had gotten only a few tail-lengths away, the cat Pokémon leapt up, trying to imitate the same trick that the bug had pulled off at the beginning.

Goh stepped up. "Not going to work. Anchor it with String Shot, Spike!" He lashed his arm through the air.

Spike, its horn still glowing, stopping moving, turned its head, and spit a wad of sticky thread from its mouth after the cat Pokémon.

"Turn around and use Scratch to cut through it!" Bellamy hurriedly through up a backup plan.

The Meowth did a half-somersault in the air in order to face the thread following it. Not interested in getting any more of that sticky gunk stuck in its fur, it quickly unsheathed its claws and swiped both forepaws as fast as it could. As the cat Pokémon was beginning to fall, shredded strips of the thread began to fall all around it.

Luckily, Meowth happened to land with the grace of a cat on its hind paws. Unfortunately for it, the Pokémon managed to land perfectly in a trail of goo, leaving it completely immobile.

Goh smirked.

"What'd I say? Don't underestimate size!" Goh shouted over to Bellamy, who seemed to get so annoyed that his tail seemed to bristle on end. Or maybe it was the wind. "Now, Spike! Charge straight towards it since it can't move!"

As Weedle had a pretty easy dash, Meowth was too absorbed with trying to get its feet free to notice the looming danger.

A bead of sweat trickled down the side of Bellamy's face. Then, he eyes sparked with an idea.

"Now, Spike, throw it upward!

"Purrdy, watch out! Quick, Pay Day at close range!"

Just as Weedle thrust its horn into Meowth's belly with enough force to free its feet from the goo, Purrdy smirked as the coin on its head began to glow. In unleashed the barrage of pellets at such a close range, and the force so concentrated, that the two Pokémon were blasted to opposite sides of the field.

Weedle landed in a heap near Bellamy, instantly knocked out as soon as it crashed on the ground. Meowth skidded to a stop near Goh, a purple bruise in the center of its belly indicating it had been poisoned. It could not stand.

There was a few long moments of silence as the three Trainers surveyed the outcome of the battle.

Finally, Camelia raised her arm with a smile. She was glad that at least that meant neither team was specifically stronger than the other. Maybe the boys could get along now? "That's it! This battle ends in a draw! Both Spike and Purrdy are unable to battle!"

 **Next chapter: The Local Gym**

 **With their battle to finally decide which team is stronger behind them, Goh and Bellamy agree on a truce for the time being. Goh, Camelia, and Bellamy end up at the local Pokémon gym. How will things turn out for the three of them?**


	5. The Local Gym

As Camelia approached the park that afternoon, she could see Goh's familiar form stretched out on the grass ahead of her, a small brownish-yellow lump coiled on his chest. Any time she wasn't around, it seemed he never really got any motivation of his own to do anything, even as excited she could notice him get during battles. It was like he only ever got motivation from reacting to other people that approach him.

She stopped walking, peering over his steadily-breathing body as she did when she first met him. He was definitely a hard one for her to figure out. "Goh? I'm here. Didn't you want to show me something today?" Camelia tapped his arm lightly with her shoe, taking note of how tightly the boy held the egg in his arm next to him.

"Hey, it's the rookie Trainer again?" The girl heard a familiar voice approach from behind, distracting her from Goh.

It was Bellamy, his Meowth sitting on his shoulders in a way that made him look like he had two sets of ears poking out from his hair.

"Camelia, right? What're you doing?" He greeted her with a brief wave, barely taking notice of the body lying at her feet, as if forcing himself not to.

"Goh said he wanted to show me something today, but he's sleeping… again," Camelia's gaze drifted to the lazy lump next to her pointedly. She looked back up. "Would you have any idea what it is?"

The red head pondered for a moment, a hand resting in the pocket of his pants. "Well… since you're a new Trainer, that Yellow Ruffian might be wanting to show you how Gyms work. Do you know about them yet?"

Camelia looked puzzled for a moment, but remembered the towering structure at the end of the street where she lived. "Gyms? You mean, like, those tower things, right?"

Bellamy nodded affirmatively. "That's it. Those things are Pokémon Gyms. If you're a Trainer, you can go there and test the strength of your Pokémon against type experts. That's also where you join a Team at, which you'll need to do sometime before you want to enter the Pokémon League tournament."

The girl seemed a little confused by what he was saying, but was too nervous to ask. She was already poked at for not knowing the basics of a Trainer by both boys; she didn't want to fuel the fire any more than she had to.

Right at that moment, a quiet groaning alerted the two Trainers to the ground next to Camelia. Goh was sitting upright with a groggy look in his eyes, both the egg and Spike in his lap. He was so tall, that just by sitting, his head came up just below Camelia's chest.

"Morning, Sleeping Ugly," Bellamy chirped with a sarcastic roll of his eyes.

Camelia took a step back to avoid the death glare that Goh fired at the Red Teamer before he even finished what he was saying. An uneasy feeling prickled the back of Camelia's neck. She took a deep, calming breath and then shoved a hand in Goh's face, "Cool it, Scruffy," pushing him back a little, and then turned her head to Bellamy. "You guys settled this whole thing the other day, remember? No fighting, unless it's with a battle."

The groggy-eyed teen knocked the girl's hand from his face, not particularly forcefully, but not exactly with the politeness of a gentleman. He pushed himself up, still silently leering at Bellamy, but directing his words to Camelia. "Shall we get going, Shorty?"

The girl blinked, lost for a moment. In the few seconds it took for her mind to get back on topic, she had to dash to catch up to the bizarrely-fast boy. "Uh, right!"

Before the two of them completely left Bellamy there, ignored, Camelia turned her head back while walking and called back to him, "Bellamy, are you coming?"

If for no other reason than to annoy Goh by his very presence being around him, the red head found himself tagging along behind them. It took him no time at all to fully catch up. When Camelia was facing forward again, she quickly noticed the long hair on the black-haired boy's head stand on end stiffly. She realized he was trying very hard not to turn around and tell Bellamy not to follow.

A few tense, but breathable moments later, Bellamy was the first to speak. "Hey… if we really are headed to the Gym, why haven't you brought it up yet? If I was Camelia, I certainly wouldn't want to keep tagging along with you for very long if you don't elaborate on anything," he spoke mostly to the air than to anyone in particular, with a matter-of-fact tone. "I guess you should be lucky for that."

Goh stopped walking and turned around, showing the other boy a big frown. "Just because _Shorty_ was the one that invited you along, doesn't mean you can tagalong," he barked his words ambiguously.

Camelia observed, thinking about what the red head had said. It was easy and didn't take her long to see that Goh was rough around the edges, but he was a good mentor. He did help her catch Bulbasaur after all and he was going out of his way to help her the past few days, so she couldn't really complain about anything. She just shrugged to herself and let it be.

As Goh was turning around to continue walking, Bellamy abruptly stopped him again. "By the way, I haven't seen it yet. With as much as I've heard about you're fighting with the Red Team, all I've seen is that Weedle of yours." He directed to the Weedle sitting cozily around Goh's neck. "Didn't you have another Pokémon when you challenged the Gym before?"

Goh's skin visibly prickled with uneasy. "No."

Camelia was hit with an array of questions after hearing this new bit of information about Goh. She looked at him, but the boy said nothing. He shook his head rigidly. "Leave it alone, Shorty. It's none of your business." He said simply, before turning back to the lanky red head. "As for you, that especially doesn't concern you."

He resumed walking, not making another comment on the subject. Their queue continued.

There was another stretch of silence between the three of them with not much more than the sound of footsteps overlapping each other.

Camelia could no longer contain her questions. She looked up at Goh leading their party of three. "Goh, where exactly are we going? Can you please tell me?" She grabbed his arm insistently, trying to stop him.

The boy, knowing that he didn't complete ignore her, paused, turned to face her for all of five seconds, glanced briefly to Bellamy and then turned back around with a huff. Camelia was about to say something again, but finally Goh broke the silence, his back turned to the red head coldly. "That brute of a Red Teamer already told you where we were going. The Pokémon Gym."

In the distance now, a tower loomed over everything on the ground. It felt both intimidating and oddly majestic in a way. As Camelia glanced forward in awe, she partly found it astonishing that Goh had been listening to her and Bellamy when they were still in the park.

Camelia suddenly felt a faint sense of nausea as her face paled. "Are you… planning on having me challenge a Gym?" She spoke slowly, nearly shaking as she clutched her shoulders to steady herself. "I-I don't think I'm quite ready for that…"

Goh stole a glance, weirdly comforting, to the girl. He had one of his brief genuine smiles again, as if having forgotten that the fox-eared boy was there. "Gyms are hard, true, but the Trainer's there adjust their strength accordingly depending on how many ranks your badge has." For emphasis, he unpinned the circular yellow badge from his shirt and handed it to her so she could inspect it. The metal felt cool in her hand. "When you first go to a Gym, you have the option of picking your Team right there, and you get a badge of the same color. If you can't decide immediately, you'll get a silver one instead until you upgrade it. Regardless of whichever one you choose, there is a small microchip inside it that is scanned every time you want challenge a Gym. If you manage to win, the data gets recorded in the microchip and your Badge Level goes up one. You need to have both chosen a Team and your Badge Level to be 18 before you qualify to enter the Pokémon League tournament."

Camelia returned the small pin back to Goh after looking it over. He reattached it to his shirt.

"That's good then."

"You also need –" Bellamy started up again, but was quickly cutoff when Goh covered Camelia's ears with both of his hands and glared at him. The fox ears seemed to twitch with irritation – the wind? – but he backed up with his arms up defensively.

After a moment, Camelia sighed heavily and peeled the boy's hands away from her ears. "What were you saying, Goh?" She pushed him to continue.

"Every time you want to challenge a Gym, you have to register a week beforehand, so there is plenty of extra training time before you battle anyways."

Camelia was slightly in disbelief. "There's a waiting period?"

Goh shrugged. "Other than the Gym Leader, all of the Trainers you face are from around the area and are of the same Badge Level. It's so no one has to get unfairly overpowered by stronger Trainers. When someone registers for a Gym challenge, anyone that visits the Gym throughout that week can sign up to be a Gym Trainer for that event, as long as their Badge Level is the same. The higher the Badge Rank, the more Gym Trainers you'll have to face before the Gym Leader. Gym Trainers are also limited to using Pokémon of the same type the Gym Leader specializes in."

* * *

As the three Trainers walked up to the front double doors, there was a small, waist-high statue of the Pokémon League's logo on one side. The words "Pokémon Gym" were in thick bold letters above the door. An energetic fanfare resounded from high above their heads, with a large flat-screen television screen showing off a double battle that two Trainers were currently in the middle of up in the stadium.

Camelia's jaw nearly dropped with sheer excitement. Her eyes became fixated on the screen, watching the Pokémon move so fluidly to their Trainer's commands.

"You can register your Gym challenge for either Single, Double, or Triple formats," Bellamy blurted quickly before Goh could even say anything. "Though, you don't actually get those options until your Badge Level is 6 and 12 for the latter two respectively."

While the three of them were standing in the middle of the lobby now, Camelia suddenly got an urge as she looked at both boys. "So, how strong are both of you, officially, then?"

Goh seemed surprised by the specific question and turned his face away. Bellamy was much more upbeat in his response. "I've already got one Badge Level," he stated proudly, Meowth suddenly puffing up his chest proudly.

Blinking, all Camelia could respond to that was a slightly amused "Oh?" before she turned to Goh for his input. There now seemed to be a faintest tinge of red covering his cheeks as he seemed embarrassed, if you squint really hard. Weedle lowered his head, copying his Trainer's behavior. "We lost the first time we took the challenge. I'm still technically a beginner." He shared an uncharacteristically sad look with his Weedle.

Camelia's eyes widened and she gasped loudly with astonishment. "You mean, your Level's still 0?" She was in a state of disbelief, she just couldn't believe it with how strong he already seemed.

Goh folded his arms, his eye twitching irritably, the stray sense of sadness and embarrassment have washed over him completely. "Yeah, well, things happened," he barked at her passively, sounding both aggressive and bored. "And I'm not in the mood to go into the gory details."

Camelia was off-put by his choice of words for some reason, as his voice sounded especially icy.

There was a pretty, young woman dressed in a simple uniform and a kind smile sitting behind the registration counter. She nodded, greeting the three Trainers as they walked up to her. "Hello. Are you all here to register for or compete in a Gym challenge today?"

"These two are," Bellamy pointed next to him, directing the clerk's attention to Camelia and Goh.

Goh unpinned his badge again, placing it on top of the counter. The clerk took a small device and scanned over the metallic item not unlike if it were the price tag on something in a grocery store. There was a short _clicking_ sound and the clerk checked the screen of her computer. "Goh Fujita? Badge Level: 0, correct?"

The boy nodded simply, a slight shudder running down his spine when she said 'zero.' "Thank you," she returned his badge. "Your challenge should be set to go in about a week."

Then she looked down at Camelia in between the two boys. "And you are?"

Camelia didn't know how to respond. She began to fret internally. "Uh-uh-um…" She stuttered, sheepishly. "I'm new to this whole thing."

The clerk's eyes lit up happily, and then she shuffled around for something in the desk drawer. "Well then, welcome to a Pokémon Gym."

Camelia exhaled. "Thank you."

Just as the boys had explained, four small items were laid out on the counter in front of her, differing only by color. "First, please pick the Team you would like to join. In the case that you are not ready to choose a Team yet, you may pick the silver badge and come back to do so another time before you enter the Pokémon League tournament. However, you may not switch Teams once you choose, so choose confidently."

The girl eyed each of the medals one at a time, slowly looking back and forth amongst them. She honestly had no idea what was the best way to go. Goh, being the first person she met as a Trainer, and who had helped her out so much already, felt like he was influencing her pick for Team Instinct. Bellamy, however, also seemed like a pretty powerful Trainer, and he was on Team Valor.

Suddenly, a loud crash came from behind her, and Camelia was shaken from her thoughts. Neither of the boys were standing behind her any longer. Instead, they seemed to be causing quite a disturbance, bickering back and forth, now throwing things at each other. Camelia focused in on their argument.

"You Red Team brute, you'd only be a bad influence on her! Shorty doesn't need any of your toxic training methods filling her head!" Goh shouted from one side of the lobby.

" _I'm_ the bad influence? You Team Instinct guys are the ones that try to force your ideals into everyone else's faces!" Bellamy retorted, facing him from the other side of the room.

"I dare you to say that again!"

Camelia's jaw dropped. She couldn't believe it. Both boys were starting to give her a major headache with their constant fighting. After a moment, she sighed deeply and turned back to the counter. She reached her hand for the silver pin. "I don't think I'm quite ready to choose yet actually."

The clerk nodded, glancing at the two boys. "Fair point. Alright, I'll just need your name, and I can register that badge to you. And your Gym challenge should be ready in about a week."

Camelia nodded and thanked the clerk as she clipped the shiny new badge to her shirt, and turned away from the counter to be met with the faces of Goh and Bellamy. Goh narrowed his eyes at her. "Traitor, Shorty…" he whispered through his teeth.

Bellamy didn't get a chance to respond.

The girl pushed her hand in Goh's face, pushing him back a bit. "It's not like I'm never choosing. I'm just not choosing right now, Scruffy. I need a little more time."

* * *

The day had finally arrived for her Gym challenge. Up until that point, Camelia spent nearly every waking moment training hard with Goh and Bellamy. The fox-eared boy's Meowth was admittedly good practice against Normal Pokémon. She could also hardly contained herself when her Bulbasaur happened to learn a new move or two, completely astounded when Goh had offered to use himself as a target practice until the Grass Pokémon mastered it.

She still didn't think her Bulbasaur's mastery was perfect yet, but there was nothing she could do about it now.

Camelia took a deep breath as she and Goh sat in the waiting room a few floors above the Gym's lobby. Bellamy bought a ticket and went ahead to stake out a seat in the stadium since non-challengers weren't allowed where they were. She felt restless. She turned to Goh to see how he was doing, though he had already been there once before, so she doubted he was that rattled.

The black-haired boy was not beside her like when they first got there ten minutes earlier. She briefly fretted, not wanting to be left alone in the room. She could have sworn that neither of them had been called for yet.

Looking around, she pinpointed a few long strands of hair messily sticking up from a corner of the room, behind another bench. She got up to see what he was doing. When she was standing over him, enough so that her shadow draped over half of Goh's body, he was huddled in the corner with his legs pulled into his chest, arms wrapped his knees tightly. He was shaking so much there was no way he could possibly hide it.

She didn't know what to think about the sight of him like that. Sure, she was nervous, but Goh seemed outright terrified for his oncoming Gym battle.

"Are you okay, Goh?" She slowly asked quietly, taking a seat on the bench beside him and pulling her legs up to her.

Through all his shaking and chattering, the boy managed a small nod. Even falling witness to it, he was still trying to act confident. Goh's vibrating was starting to make the girl dizzy and was not helping her own anxiety, so she put a hand on his head to try and stifle it just a bit. "You definitely aren't," she shook her head, her words trying to sound as calming as she possibly could. She was a naturally emotional person, but under these circumstances it was hard for her to not get overwhelmed.

Goh looked up at her, his eyes peeking through the collection of hair and her fingers over his face. "The battles excite me," he said slowly and softly, the most timid she'd ever seen him. "It's the crowds of people and the publicity I don't like."

Well, that explained why she always found him by himself, and why he hadn't tried until then to re-challenge the Gym.

Camelia thought for a moment. "Don't think of being surrounded by so many people. Think about…" She got lost for words. "Think about the people being in their underwear!" She perked up.

Goh honestly looked at her as if she had two heads. "That's really all you can come up with?"

The girl felt like hitting him but knew he wasn't acting like his normal self. She smiled awkwardly. "I'm not exactly a therapist."

The boy cracked a faint smile, the grip on his knees loosening a bit, but he remained sat in the corner. Just then, before either of them could think of anything else, a voice spoke over the intercom. "Camelia Farley, please make your way to the stadium to start your Gym challenge."

"It looks like I'm first," Camelia reluctantly removed her hand from the boy's head and stood up.

She slowly made her way to the elevator. Before she disappeared, though, she turned back to examine Goh again. "You and Spike are great at battling! Try to focus on that so your training doesn't go to waste for the both of you."

She caught his bright-eyed with her own and nodded for emphasis as the elevator doors separated them.

* * *

As Camelia rode the elevator up to the top of the tower where the stadium was, she felt herself getting jittery again. Even though she knew Bellamy was waiting somewhere up in the audience sitting around the stadium, and Goh was behind her back in the waiting room, that moment she knew she had to do the rest all on her own. She pulled out her Bulbasaur's PokéBall. "It's just you and me now. Let's try and make this count, okay?"

She exhaled a deep breath, lowering the ball to her side, just as the elevator lurched to a stop and the doors slid open. The loud buzzing excitement of the thick crowd hit her all at once, and she suddenly felt like throwing up as at least some of Goh's behavior seemed justifiable now.

She walked out into the large circular arena, nearly tripping on her own feet several times as she watched the crowd. The girl couldn't believe how many people there actually were.

"Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for the challenger – Camelia Farley – in the silver corner! A girl new to the Pokémon Gym challenge!" From somewhere amidst the buzzing air around her, an enthusiastic announcer welcomed the girl into the arena.

"Facing her in the first round, on the other side, we have Joey Foster – an equally new Trainer to the scene of the blue team!"

Camelia walked onto a small, rectangular, slightly-raised platform with a decorative silver trim. She briefly wondered if it was colored that way specifically because of her Team-affiliation, or lack thereof at the current time.

Across from her, on the other side of the field, a younger boy, but about the same height, dressed in a backwards baseball cap, hoodie, and shorts ran up to his platform with a blue trim. He waved to the crowd excitedly.

"Are the two Trainers ready?" The announcer roared over his microphone. "Due to the Levels of both of the Trainers, this will be a simple one-on-one battle! If the challenger manages to win, she will get to face the Gym Leader up next; however, if she loses, that marks the end of her trial for the day! Let this battle get underway!"

Just as the announcer finished and the referee waved a flag to signal for them to begin, both of the Trainers tossed out their PokéBall over the field. "I'm counting on you, Basarao!"

"Show them all your top percentage, Scratch!"

The crowd erupted as the Bulbasaur and a purple-and-cream-colored rodent appeared on the field simultaneously, both of them raring to go with fiery determination.

Camelia gulped as she stole a glance at the crowd around her one last time and then forced herself to focus on her Pokémon. "Basarao, let's start off with Tackle!"

The Grass-type dashed forward.

"Blind it with your speed!" Joey countered, "Use your Quick Attack, Scratch!"

The Rattata waited until the Grass Pokémon got closer and then leapt to the side in a blur, leaving an afterimage in its wake. Bulbasaur stopped short, confused at the rodent's sudden burst of speed. The Pokémon hastily tried to follow the Rattata's movement across the field, only catching a glimpse every now and then before it was in a completely opposite direction. Rattata slammed, head-first, into Bulbasaur, sending it tumbling in the referee's direction.

"Oh no!"

"Quick Attack again, and then follow it up with Iron Tail!" Joey rattled off a list of commands to his Pokémon.

Rattata dashed around the field again, slamming into Bulbasaur from the side, before the plant Pokémon could even shake off the previous hit. The rodent ricocheted upward with a somersault, gathered steely-colored energy in its tail, and then tried to come back down on top of Bulbasaur again.

Camelia bit her lip. She remembered how Goh and Spike often used String Shot. "Catch it quickly with Vine Whip, Basarao!"

The Grass Pokemon's vine-arms lashed out from underneath the seed on his back, ensnaring Rattata's tail. "Throw it away!" Camelia followed up.

Before Rattata could descend any closer, Bulbasaur's vines tightened around it, and slammed it into the ground a few feet away. The glow on Rattata's tail disappeared.

"Sleep Powder, now!" Camelia called for another attack for the Rattata could get back up.

Bulbasaur hopped backward a step or two and pointed his bulb to opponent like a cannon. It sprayed a powdery blue dust cloud falling over Normal Pokémon. The rodent's eyes drooped as its body began to sway, its feet stumbling.

"Ah, Scratch! Don't lose now!" Joey whined frantically, beginning to panic. "Use Tail Whip! Create a cyclone to blow it away!"

Rattata's feet stabilized and it shook its head to try and clear its mind of the slumber. It somersaulted, landing on its back and facing upward, wagging its tail in a circular motion, fast enough that it was managing to stop anymore of the dust from falling. It held it in place above it.

"It can't move right now, Basarao!" Camelia observed the Rattata's situation carefully. "Go ahead and use your Bullet Seed now!" She prayed that the move would work that time, as they had work hard to master it.

Bulbasaur roared skyward, starting to gather the sunlight's energy into its bulb. When it seemed ready enough, the Grass Pokémon opened his mouth, shooting a string of small, wispy-looking, white energy balls. However, they only travelled about halfway to Rattata before fizzling out.

" _It doesn't even look like a Bullet Seed."_ Camelia remembered Bellamy's words from earlier that week, and it made her bury her face in her hand with embarrassment.

"That wasn't very impressive!" Joey called to her, over the roar of the crowd.

"Alright, use Tackle!" Camelia quickly recovered by giving another command.

After the failed Bullet Seed, Bulbasaur quickly charged forward, trying to work around his blunder. Fortunately, because of its position, the Grass Pokémon easily slammed into it, tossing it sprawling across the field. However, that also let the rest of the Sleep Powder fall over it. Being a Grass-type, he wasn't afflicted with sleep, but to Camelia's surprise and chagrin, he started sneezing from his own dust.

"Scratch, take it down! Quick Attack!" Joey ordered.

The Rattata leapt forward again, dashing across the field with its afterimage trying to keep up. It slammed into Bulbasaur head-on, continued onward, and then tackled into it from a different direction. The Grass Pokémon was tossed around all over the place, as he kept getting hit from one direction after the other. Just then, Bulbasaur sneezed again, this time managing to create a single, fully-solidified seed and firing it in Rattata's direction randomly.

"That attack's a joke!" Joey laughed. "Scratch, grab it with your tail and throw it back!"

Rattata landed, swung its tail around to wrap around the lone seed, and then twisted its body around and threw it in the direction it had come, hitting Bulbasaur with twice as much force as it had shot it from the power of the throw alone.

"Now, Iron Tail! Finish it!"

Without even landing, Rattata's tail began to glow again, and it gained force as it spun and somersaulted its body until slamming its tail down onto the Grass-type's head. Bulbasaur was knocked off of his feet, unable to fight.

Camelia looked at her Pokémon horrified, the moment being unable to sink in properly, as the referee's flag swiped through the air decisively. "Bulbasaur is unable to continue! And that's it! The challenger, Camelia Farley, has lost the match!"

The girl sunk to her knees in disbelief, her eyes unable to move from her fallen Pokémon. "That's it…" her voice trembled. "We lost?"

The crowd roared for the victor.

* * *

Goh stood up straight, his arm raised as his Weedle was perched on top. He was breathing heavily, admittedly feeling exhausted at trying his hardest to ignore the loud cheering of the crowd. Even if she had ended up losing in the first round of her own challenge, Goh had felt motivated from seeing how hard she tried. Before his name had even been called for his challenge to start, he had made a promise with Weedle that he'd win for her. It did little, but Goh believed he owed the girl that much since she had tried to comfort him earlier and worked hard.

The boy took a deep breath, again drowning out the cheering of the crowd as he waited for the Gym Leader to show up. He closed his eyes.

 _The elevator doors opened for Goh, revealing Camelia now in front of him, slumped on the floor with Bulbasaur's PokéBall clutched in her hands loosely. She was still in shock over the whole outcome._

" _What's wrong?" Goh asked evenly, sounding for the most part, back to his usual self. He spoke as if he hadn't just watched the battle from the television in the waiting room._

 _She tapped the PokéBall against her forehead discomfortingly. "We lost…" She squeezed her eyes shut._

 _A few seconds ticked by and Goh walked up, kneeled, and put a gentle hand on her head, not unlike what she had done for him earlier. "You did well, Camelia," the boy smiled confidently. He helped to pull her to her feet. "But when you lose, you have to get back up and try again. That's how you get stronger."_

 _The two Trainers switched places, with Goh in the elevator and Camelia back in the waiting room. The girl wiped her face with her sleeve as she looked at him._

" _Don't worry," Goh added after a comfortable moment of silence. He flashed her a thumbs-up. "I'll win for the both of us, got it?"_

 _Camelia felt a small smile brighten up her face. She nodded as the elevator doors closed again. She couldn't believe he was acting so coolly again, with how she remembered him from that morning. She wished him 'good luck' before turning to watch the events from the television screen, sitting next to Goh's bag with the egg nestled inside it._

He felt a fire growing inside him. He had to win. Not just for him that time.

From the elevator across the arena, a tall woman walked out, her hair styled neatly in a bun on the top of her head and she wore thick red glasses.

"Now, we've reached round two of Goh Fujita's Gym challenge! He will be facing the Gym Leader herself, Norma, the expert on Normal-type Pokémon!" the announcer screamed enthusiastically, and the crowd followed suit.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," the woman walked up to her platform, greeting her challenger with a friendly smile, pushing her glasses back up on the bridge of her nose.

"Just like before, this match with be a one-on-one battle!" the announcer started up again, "If the challenger happens to win against Norma, his Badge Level will increase to Level 1! Ready?" The two Trainers prepared themselves, Norma taking out a PokéBall from a bag hanging from her shoulder. "Set? Go!"

Norma threw her PokéBall, releasing a large, majestic-looking cream-colored feline with a red jewel on its forehead. When Goh sent Weedle back into battle, the cat towered over the tiny bug intimidatingly.

"Are you sure your little Weedle is up for such a battle?" Norma inquired, "I saw how it battled in the first round. Wouldn't it be better to choose something else?"

Goh smirked confidently. "Spike's the only one I need to win. We promised a friend that we would."

Norma observed the combination with intrigue. "Alright then. We'll let you have the first move."

"Spike, start with String Shot!" Goh ordered, pointing forward.

Weedle reared up and launched a missile of sticky web at the feline Pokémon, not even deciding to move yet.

Norma adjusted her glasses. "So he's starting defensively, huh?" She muttered to herself before commanding simply, "Dodge out of the way, Persian!"

The large cat Pokémon dodged the string easily, landing a short distance off to the side without breaking much of a sweat. "Get close to it with Slash now, Persian!"

Persian unsheathed the claws on its forepaws and dashed toward the Weedle. Goh seemed unfazed. "Catch it!" was all he said, quickly.

As the Normal Pokémon leapt up and swiped one of its paws at the Bug, Weedle twisted his body around to face his opponent and shot another mouthful of sticky string at it. "Now, swing it around!" The boy followed up.

It was a little difficult for the Bug Pokémon to pull off due to the great difference in size and weight of the two monsters, but Weedle managed to yank on its chain just enough to unbalance the cat and topple it over.

"We'll see about that. Persian, use Power Gem, now!"

The red jewel on the feline Pokémon's head began to absorb energy, turning a solid white color due to how much was being condensed. Persian then jumped high and roared, aiming its jewel down at the Weedle like a laser. All of the pent up energy exploded outward from the jewel, shooting medium-sized rock-like projectiles over the arena.

"Climb it with String Shot, Spike!" Goh ordered as he watched the rocks rain down, instinctively shielding his face with an arm as if to protect himself.

Weedle again spit his thread at one of the slabs of rock, latching onto it securely, and them pulling himself up to ride the stone creation.

"Chase after it, Persian!" Norma ordered confidently.

Everything feeling as if it were in slow motion, the feline dove toward the rock where Weedle had found himself and slashed at him with a large paw. Weedle evaded easily enough by simply spitting his string and pulling himself to another slab. Persian followed, again trying to swipe at him with a paw to try and knock him down. Weedle swung to a different slab.

Goh narrowed his eyes.

Just as the slab of rock that the two Pokémon were currently occupying crashed into the ground, creating a decent-sized crater in the arena, Persian swung its paw – claws glowing – hard enough to break off a piece of the rock.

Goh's eyes widened. "Use Poison Sting, now, Spike!"

Right under Persian's gaze, a small horn was lodged into a small crevice in the rock. Weedle picked his head up, surprising the feline Pokémon, and then launching himself directly at Persian's chest, horn-first. Persian screeched in pain as it fell off the rock.

Goh seemed to ignore the condition the Normal Pokémon seemed to be in. "Use Strong Shot, once more!" he commanded eagerly, swinging his arm.

Weedle turned away from the Persian and spat its string in the completely opposite direction.

After a moment, Persian finally picked itself up, struggling to get to its feet because of the poison coursing its way into its body, as evidenced by the purple bruise. The cat Pokémon panted heavily.

"What is he trying to do?" Norma wondered in exasperation as she turned her eyes to follow the Bug. She gasped. "Oh no! Persian, get out of there! Hurry!"

The cat turned to her, confused, before dashing back to her, wearing out quickly with the poisoning. However, it had to maneuver around all of the rocks that had fallen onto the arena, and what made it hard was Weedle's string stretched from one rock to the next, blocking potential escape routes.

Persian stopped in its tracks, looking frantically left and right for a way to go.

"Persian, break through all that string with Slash!" Norma countered quickly, trying to keep her Pokémon calm.

However, as the cat Pokémon's claws began to glow and it leapt for a section of the string, Goh was already ahead of what it was going to do. "Spike, glue its feet down!"

The Weedle spit another thread, grabbing hold of the Normal Pokémon's hind leg, and slamming it back on the ground. "Before it can get up again, ride the string!" Goh called determinedly.

Weedle hopped on the nearest thread and scurried across it so fast he looked like he was sliding. When he got near the Persian, he jabbed his tail-horn into the crouching Pokémon's back, and then lifted himself back onto the string and hurried away. Then, he appeared from a different direction, stabbing Persian again with his horn when he got close and then running away. After what seemed like a barrage of Poison Stings, Persian collapsed from its own weight from all the poison it had taken. It panted heavily, unable to get back up.

The referee waved the flag.

"And, that's it! Persian is unable to battle – Goh Fujita has beaten the Gym Leader!" the announcer roared ecstatically.

It took a moment or two for everything to sink in. A slowly smile spread across Goh's face as he leapt off of the platform to celebrate with his Weedle.

* * *

After Goh and Camelia had checked back in with the clerk in the lobby about how things had went, and reunited with Bellamy, the three Trainers took a moment to breath in the lounge area. Weedle and Bulbasaur were out, gobbling up a big meal heartily.

Camelia turned to Goh. "That's great that you won."

The boy shook his head. "Thanks, Shorty. I probably wouldn't have if it wasn't for you, though. I just kept a promise."

Bellamy looked between them, blinking with confusion. "Did I miss something here?"

Camelia turned to the red head and chuckled innocently. "No," she shook her head. "Not at all."

All Bellamy could do was shrug and he turned to the black-haired boy, with a different kind of smile than usual. "You both did pretty well – even if one of you is Team Instinct –"

"What can I say, I have a natural talent," Goh shrugged, bragging proudly.

Everyone shared a laugh.

Bellamy extended his hand toward the other boy. "What say we call a truce for the time being? We can finish our fight when we get to the Pokémon League?"

Goh stared at him. Camelia was partly scared, for fear of what he could potentially say. However, she was met with relief when he stood up and took his hand. "It's a deal. Until the Pokémon League."

 **Next chapter: Setting Off**

 **The real journey finally begins as Goh, Camelia, and Bellamy decide to travel together to look for more gyms to challenge, first stop: northwest!**


End file.
